Physical Education and School Sport

George Hounsell, Director of Primary Sport & Community

Throughoutthe2022/23academicyear,weproudlyhostedover 15 Varsity Festivals in partnership with Shrewsbury School, ShropshireSchoolsTennisandPanathlonUK.

Varsity events are broken down into three groups: primary, secondary and Sixth Form. During the academic year, we ensure that all children, no matter their ability level, have the opportunity to take part in sporting events. This provides them with a positive experience in school sport from across the Marches Academy Trust.

The Varsity programme is a fundamental part of the Marches Academy Trust; supporting our schools and children to help improve and develop Physical Education and School Sport. Giving children from Year 2 to Sixth Form the opportunity to take part in exciting activities that they cannot normally try and helping children to develop a lifelong love of sport and an active lifestyle. Sports have included rowing, football, fives, tennis, swimming and squash. Throughout these festivals, students and staff have continued to follow Trust values.

Since 2020, the Varsity competitions have been providing students from across our schools with a platform to showcase their sporting excellence.

Our family of schools

Shrewsbury Academy

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Julie Johnson, Headteacher

To me, at Shrewsbury Academy, excellence is sharing good practice. Having great teachers working with great students, and great leaders who drive high expectations and standards. Doing this will ensure all students have the best opportunities to be successful learners, prepared for a future aspirational career andasuccessfultransitionintoadulthood.

We recently received a certificate from the Pearson Teaching Awards, presenting Shrewsbury Academy with a Certificate of Excellence for Making a Difference. How fabulous to receive this award and be recognised for the hard work that takes place here every single day.

A group of seventeen students were recently selected to be our Sports Ambassadors. These students will represent our school during events, will be trained to support with leading events and lead inter-House sports competitions. A huge congratulations to those students who were selected!

Rainbow Day is always a day of excellence at Shrewsbury Academy, where all students celebrate diversity. We celebrated this event on Friday 30th June, with our Skittle Squad leading the event. They manned a cake stall and raised money selling rainbow merchandise. Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging is a priority focus for the whole school and is something that we are immensely proud of leading here.

Our Transition Ambassadors have been working incredibly hard this term to support our new intake of Year 7 students for September 2023. These students have been selected to represent the school following an application process and they will be the face of Shrewsbury Academy for our students and new families.

We need to praise our Year 10 cohort of students who have just taken part in their English-Speaking examination. The students approached the task with maturity and confidence, challenged themselves, structured their speeches well and presented with pride.

Our Duke of Edinburgh Award has been such a positive experience for our students, especially this term as they have been participating in their expedition. They have conducted themselves incredibly well and have enjoyed taking part.

All staff took part in defibrillation training on the 29th June, this event was also supported by two DofE students. This initiative was highly successful and well received. It is great to know that in our school, staff and students are trained for an emergency.